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Sarasota Parents Charged In Fatal Teen Party

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By TODD RUGER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: August 15, 2008

Beverly Herrera

Max Herrera

SARASOTA COUNTY - The parents of a Sarasota High School student were arrested Thursday on charges they provided alcohol to teenagers at a house party that ended with the death of an 18-year-old.

Max and Beverly Herrera bought the beer for the party and left it in the refrigerator for at least nine teenagers to drink, sheriff's reports say.

The parents also watched the teenagers play beer pong -- a parlor game that encourages rapid and excessive consumption -- and never tried to slow them down, according to the reports.

The party ended when a group of Riverview High School students, whom the Herreras had kicked out earlier in the night, came back with about a dozen people and started a brawl outside the house.

Gregory Kennedy, a junior at Sarasota High, fell to the ground and was pummeled in the head even after he was knocked unconscious, the medical examiner says.

"I just wonder what the situation would have been like if it was a normal party with no alcohol," said his father, Roland Kennedy.

Roland Kennedy said that when his son asked to go to the party, he asked the same question that he always did: "Are his parents going to be there?"

He said he knew his son was not lying when he said yes. Robert Herrera, who was celebrating his 17th birthday, was one of his son's best friends.

Roland Kennedy said he never imagined the parents would be allowing excessive drinking.

"It directly contributed to creating a situation and environment that led to some kind of anger, and ejection, and a domino chain of events," Roland Kennedy said. "It's heinous."

Max Herrera, 41, and Beverly Herrera, 44, each face a felony charge of neglect of a child, as well as misdemeanor charges of open house party and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The medical examiner counted seven blows to Kennedy's head. Kennedy died from any one of three of those blows, and the medical examiner found no wounds indicating Kennedy defended himself or was an aggressor in the fight, prosecutors said.

Friends at the party said Gregory Kennedy was drunk and had fallen asleep on the couch, then woke up when the brawl started and ran outside.

Friends said it was common for Robert Herrera's friends to hang out at his house and that his parents were funny and always welcomed them.

Beverly Herrera was on the deck while the teenagers played beer pong there, deputies say, while Max Herrera was in the living room.

The Herreras have not spoken publicly about the events that night.

A member of the family says the couple had planned a small party for friends that was not supposed to include alcohol.

Audrey Eaton, Beverly Herrera's mother, said in an interview last week that her daughter and Max Herrera had planned a surprise celebration for their son, Robert, at Sarasota Lanes Bowling Alley. They invited about eight other students.

After bowling, the group went back to the Herreras' home on Lalani Boulevard, and the party grew. Police say the invitations for the party were over the phone.

Eaton said that the couple did not give the teenagers alcohol but that some of the students brought it to the house.

Eaton said the whole family has been crying since the events of that day, including Max Herrera, who was very upset.

Riverview students Simon Mihailovic and Michael Mendola, both 17, have been charged with second-degree murder.

Defense attorney Derek Byrd, who is representing Mendola, said Thursday that the "whole thing could have been avoided if the parents were acting like responsible adults."

Far too much blame has gone against my client and not enough on the parents," Byrd said.

Max Herrera has faced criminal charges before.

Prison records show that Herrera was sentenced in 1984 to a year of probation in New Mexico for possession of marijuana. In 1990, he was sent to prison for nearly three years on a false imprisonment charge. And in 1998, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for forgery.

Records show he was paroled in 2003 and was on probation when he moved to Florida.

His father, Max Herrera Sr., says Max tried to turn his life around in prison, where he became a Christian and spent months in an alcohol rehabilitation program.

Sarasota Herald-Tribune staff writer Tiffany Lankes contributed to this report.

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